* I confess that I am not sure whether the author means that Sir David Liddel was nephew to Earl Douglas or Sir H. M., but as the latter is more syntactical, I have preferred it.-W. M.

+ Another Homerism, Αὐγειας έρατεινάς. Πiad, B. 532, 583. 591. Mavrivény éparɛivǹy. 607, and a thousand other places. manifestly made Homer his study.-W. M.

'Αρήνην ἐρατεινὴν.

The author had

*

Bp. Percy suspects these two verses, 41, 42, to be spurious. So do I, as they stand at present; but I think we might make a good verse out of the two; thus:

This was the hunting of the Cheviot,

Upon a Monday;

There was the doughty Douglas slain,

The Percy never went away.

This will get off the confusion with regard to the battle of Otterburn, and the strange language of these verses. Percy's interpretation of "That tear began this spurn," is, "That tearing or pulling occasioned this spurn or kick." I have followed him, though I confess I am not satisfied with it.—W. M.

Expliceth Richard Shealet temp. Henr.vi. Explicit O. P. temy. Geo. IV.

*

i. e. Better our bales, remedy our. evils. Bp. Percy.-W. M. The author of this ballad, as the reader may see by the expliceth, is RICHARD SHEALE, a gentleman not to be confounded, as honest old Tom Hearne has done, with a Richard Sheale who was living in 1588. Nor is he to be confounded with a Richard Sheil who is alive in 1820, writing tragedies and other jocose performances. I waive the objection arising from Chronology, as that is a science I despise, therein imitating Lady Morgan, the Edinburgh Reviewers, Major Cartwright, and various other eminent persons. For (to take one instance from the works of the first-cited authority) might not Mr. Richard Sheil of 1820, be as capable of writing a ballad in the days of Henry VI. as the wife of the Grand Condè of intriguing with a king who was dead before she was born? (See, if extant, Lady Morgan's France.) My objections to their identity are of a graver and more critical nature. 1st, Richard Sheil of Chevy Chase is an original writer, which nobody accuses Richard Sheil of Evadne of being. 2ndly, Although in verse 33, Second Fytte, the ballad-monger had an opportunity of bringing up the children with their mothers, to serve as a clap-trap, he has not done so; an omission of which the tragedy-monger

I have done with Chevy Chase; but as I am in a garrulous disposition, I wish to add a few words. Every true lover of English literature, must acknowledge the great benefit conferred on it by Bishop Perry, in publishing his Relics. That work has breathed a spirit of renovated youth over our poetry; and we may trace its influence in the strains of higher mood, uttered by the great poets of our own days. The Bishop was qualified for this task by exquisite poetical feeling, a large share of varied antiquarian knowledge, and general literary acquirements-united accomplishments which he possessed in a greater degree perhaps than any of his contemporaries. But since his time, and in a great measure in consequence of his work, and those which it called forth, so much more is known with respect to early English literature-I might say with respect to early English history—and the taste of the public is so much more inclined to such studies, that I think a general collection of our old English ballads, comprising of course those of Percy, Ritson, and others, which may merit preservation, is a great desideratum. Little skilled as I am in such subjects, I could point out deficiencies in the plan or the details of every work of the kind I have ever seen. deficiencies, however, which I have not time to notice, nor perhaps would this be the proper place to do it, or I the proper person, after travestying the first of old ballads into Monkish Latin. I should require in the editor high poetic taste, a deep and minute knowledge of the history and antiquities of the country, a profound acquaintance with the customs, the language, the heraldry, the genealogy of our ancestors, a critical judgment with respect to ancient poetry, and a perfect familiarity with all our poetic stores, ancient and modern -besides, what are not so common as may be imagined, undeviating honesty and fidelity. Yours, &c. &c.

DUBLIN, May 31, 1820.

O. P.

of Ballemira would never have been guilty. 3dly, The people in the poem of the rhymester are decent men, who talk plain language; whereas, the people in The Apostate are stalking-talking rogues, who discourse in the most sarsenet phraseology. 4thly, and lastly, The ballad of the Percy and Douglas (teste Sir P. Sidney) moves the heart like the sound of a trumpet, whereas, the tragedy of Adelaide puts one to sleep more effectually than a double dose of diacodium. Wherefore, I am of opinion, that Mr. R. Sheil now extant, is not the author of Chevy Chase. Q. E. D.-W. M.

The Man in the Bell.*

In my younger days, bell-ringing was much more in fashion among the young men of than it is now. Nobody, I believe, practises it there at present except the servants of the church, and the melody has been much injured in consequence. Some fifty years ago, about twenty of us who dwelt in the vicinity of the Cathedral, formed a club, which used to ring every peal that was called for; and, from continual practice and a rivalry which arose between us and a club attached to another steeple, and which tended considerably to sharpen our zeal, we became very Mozarts on our favorite instruments. But my bell-ringing practice was shortened by a singular accident, which not only stopped my performance, but made even the sound of a bell terrible to my ears.

One Sunday, I went with another into the belfry to ring for noon prayers, but the second stroke we had pulled shewed us that the clapper of the bell we were at was muffled. Some one had been buried that morning, and it had been prepared, of course, to ring a mournful note. We did not know of this, but the remedy was easy. "Jack," said my companion, "step up to the loft, and cut off the hat;" for the way we had of muffling was by tying a piece of an old hat, or of cloth (the former was preferred) to one side of the clapper, which deadened every second toll. I complied, and mounting into the belfry, crept as usual into the bell, where I began to cut away. The hat had been tied on in some more complicated manner than usual; and I was perhaps three or four minutes in getting it off; during which time my companion below was hastily called away, by a message from his sweetheart I believe, but that is not material

* This story first appeared in Blackwood for November, 1821. It is briefly characterized by Mr. Kenealy as a paper worthy of Victor Hugo." In an Epistle General, which closed the number, and professed to be addressed to Correspondents, it was quizzically said "Mr. Brougham will see that we have lost no time in inserting 'The Man in the Bell.' He can best explain the true meaning of this most mysterious and appalling narrative." But, in its earlier days, Blackwood was fond of such mystifications. M.